After
Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, began on 22 June 1941, Pushkin continued to command the division on the
Southwestern Front. During the border battles, he led the division in the
Battle of Dubno. Having suffered heavy losses, the remnants of Pushkin's command were broken up to assist in the formation of new tank brigades. In early August Pushkin took command of the 8th Tank Division, which had just broken out of encirclement, on the Southwestern and
Southern Fronts. The division was credited with the destruction of 80 German tanks between 19 and 25 August. In recognition of this feat, Pushkin was recommended for the title
Hero of the Soviet Union, the country's highest award, by 18th Mechanized Corps commander
Pyotr Volokh, and was awarded the title on 9 November. The recommendation read:Comrade Pushkin with his decisive actions ensued the decision of the assigned objective, located at his command post under a hurricane of enemy fire, directed the battle, as a result of which the enemy suffered losses of 56 disabled tanks and two towed out of battle in the course of three days. Comrade Pushkin, not sparing his life, inspired his subordinates to decisive actions and valor by his personnel example. Repeated attempts of the enemy to counterattack were eliminated and the enemy suffered significant losses. Comrade Pushkin repeatedly, placing his life in danger, himself personally brought units into battle, routing the Fascist bandits and ensuing the advance forward. In the most tense moment, when the enemy came around on the flanks, Comrade Pushkin with full composure directed the battle and not only ensued the elimination of the threat, but inflicted massive damage to the enemy and captured the commanding heights before Krinichki. On 21 August 1941, near Dneprodzerzhinsk, leading the regiments into the attack, Comrade Pushkin destroyed enemy tanks and put them to flight, simultaneously forcing the enemy infantry to retreat six kilometers. In this six guns were captured, and ten anti-tank guns, eight mortars, eleven machine guns and up to a battalion of infantry destroyed. The division was used to form the 130th Tank Brigade in September, and Pushkin continued as commander of the latter on the Southern Front. In March 1942 he became deputy commander of the
18th Army for tank troops. Pushkin took command of the
23rd Tank Corps on 12 April, which he led in the
Second Battle of Kharkov as part of the
6th Army of the Southwestern Front. He became acting deputy commander of the front for tank troops on 4 June and in August deputy commander of the
4th Tank Army. The army was formed from the
28th Army and joined the
Stalingrad Front and then the
Don Front on 28 September. He served in this role in the counterattack of the front against the German forces crossing the Don north of
Kalach, during which it broke German attempts to force the Don and capture Stalingrad, and subsequently, inflicting heavy losses in personnel and equipment on the Axis forces, the corps participated in defensive battles on the outskirts of Stalingrad. In October the
65th Army was formed from the 4th Tank Army, and Pushkin appointed deputy commander of this army for tank troops. At the end of October Pushkin returned to command the 23rd Tank Corps, then in the
Reserve of the Supreme High Command, and in December it was transferred to the Southwestern Front. As part of the
5th Tank,
3rd Guards,
1st Guards,
6th, and
8th Guards Armies of the front the corps under Pushkin's command successfully fought in the Soviet counteroffensive near Stalingrad. He was promoted to the rank of
general-leytenant on 18 January 1943. In the second half of January, Pushkin led the corps in the
Voroshilovgrad Offensive, during which it liberated
Krasnodon,
Sverdlovsk, and
Rovenky. Subsequently, Pushkin led the corps in the
Izyum–Barvenkovo offensive, the
Donbas strategic offensive, and the
Zaporozhye offensive, during which it distinguished itself in the liberation of
Konstantinovka,
Chaplino and
Zaporozhye. As part of the 3rd Guards Army of the Southern Front (the
4th Ukrainian from October), the corps fought in the
Melitopol offensive. Later the corps was transferred to the
46th Army of the
3rd Ukrainian Front and fought in the
Dnepropetrovsk offensive. From November 1943 the corps fought in combat actions as part of the 8th Guards Army of the front, and from December was under the direct control of the front commander. Pushkin led the corps in the
Bereznegovatoye–Snigirevka offensive in March 1944. During the offensive, Pushkin was killed in a German bombing raid in the area of
Bashtanka at 18:30 on 11 March. He was buried in
Dnipropetrovsk (the city is since 2016 named Dnipro). == Awards and honors ==